Google Editions ebook platform to challenge Amazon Kindle

Google Editions will enable people to buy books online and read them on any
device with a web browser

The launch of Google Editions could signal the end of dedicated ebook readers, such as the Amazon Kindle

11:47AM BST 16 Oct 2009

The move will pit Google against Amazon, which has its own online ebook store and ebook reader, the Kindle.

Tom Turvey, head of Google Book Search's publisher partnership program, said the store would launch next year, and would initially offer around 400,000 to 600,000 books. Publishers would set the price of titles.

"It will be a browser-based access," said Turvey. "The way the e-book market will evolve is by accessing the book from anywhere, from an access point of view and also from a geographical point of view."

It means that books purchased from Google Editions will be accessible on any device with a web browser, potentially bringing the service to mobile phones and netbooks rather than just dedicated ereaders.

Google will collect 55 per cent of the profits, and Turvey said the "vast majority" of that money will go to retailers, with the remainder going to publishers.

"Google Editions allows retail partners to sell their books, especially those who haven't invested in a digital platform," he said. "We expect the majority [of customers] will go to retail partners not to Google. We are a wholesaler, a book distributor."

Google has already been scanning and digitising thousands of out-of-copyright books to make them fully searchable on the web. But its Google Books project has attracted criticism from publishers and rights groups, who fear Google could build a monopoly around the book-digitisation process. They are also keen to ensure that authors and publishers are properly compensated.

A US court has set Google and publishing groups a deadline of Nov 9 to submit a revised agreement for the Google Books project. Last month, the US Department of Justice said that an existing $125 million settlement between the parties raised "significant legal concerns" and would likely break federal antitrust laws.

Ebooks are one of the biggest consumer electronic growth sectors in the United States. The Amazon Kindle, which launch in 2007, has been credited with kick-starting the trend, but other companies, such as Sony, makers of the Reader, have also enjoyed significant success.

Amazon's Kindle launches in the UK later this month, and ebook readers are expected to be big sellers this Christmas. Last year, ebook sales in the US totalled more than $113 million, up 68 per cent from 2007, although electronic versions of novels still account for only a small percentage of overall book sales.